Geastrum quadrifidum

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Geastrum quadrifidum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Geastrales
Family: Geastraceae
Genus: Geastrum
Species:
G. quadrifidum
Binomial name
Geastrum quadrifidum
Pers.
:Pers.
Synonyms[2]

Lycoperdon coronatum

Schaeff.

Lycoperdon coronatum Scop.
Geaster coronatus (Schaeff.) J. Schröt.
Geastrum quadrifidum var. minus Pers.
Geastrum minus (Pers.) G. Cunn.[1] auct. non

Geastrum quadrifidum
saprotrophic
Edibility is inedible

Geastrum quadrifidum, commonly known as the rayed earthstar or four-footed earthstar, is an inedible species of

saprobe, feeding off decomposing organic matter present in the soil and litter of coniferous
forests.

The small, tough,

μm. Geastrum quadrifidum is one of a number of earthstars whose rays arch downward as they mature, lifting the spore sac upward, high enough to catch air currents that disseminate the spores into new habitats. The species is easily confused with G. fornicatum
, a larger earthstar without a well-defined pore mouth.

Taxonomy

The Dutch mycologist

Jacob Christian Schaeffer (1763) and Giovanni Antonio Scopoli (1772),[5] then afterward as Geaster coronatus by Joseph Schröter (1889),[6][nb 1] the epithet coronatus is not to be used because of the existence of the sanctioned name.[8]

In Japan, G. quadrifidum has occasionally been called "Geastrum minus" (Pers.) G. Cunn. (for example, as in Imai, 1936);[9] within taxonomical terminology, this usage is an auctorum non—a misapplication or misinterpretation of the species name.[10]

According to Stanek's

specific epithet quadrifidum is derived from Latin, and means "four-forks".[16]

Description

Closeup of spore sac showing detail of peristome (above) and supporting stalk (below)

As in all Geastrum fungi, the internal spore-producing

pseudoparenchyma).[17] The immature, unopened fruit body is roughly spherical to somewhat flattened or irregular in shape. It lies partly or wholly submerged, encrusted with debris. The expanded fruit body is usually taller than it is wide, about 10–40 mm (3⁄8–1+5⁄8 in) high, with mycelial cup included about 15–55 mm (5⁄8–2+1⁄8 in). The exoperidium (the outer tissue layer of the four-layered peridium) splits in the middle into three to six, but usually four or five rays. The exoperidium is typically fornicate—a structural feature that arises when the mesoperidium separates from the exoperidium, adhering only at the edge. In this way, the endoperidium (the internal tissue layer that encloses the spore sac) is lifted upwards with the downward movement of the rays. In this species, the tips of the rays remain attached to the mycelial layer, which remain attached to the substrate as a cup in the ground.[18]

Fresh fruit bodies have a fleshy white to cream-colored exoperidium. This individual has a pseudoparenchymatous collar, the thickness of which hides the short stalk that supports the spore sac.
When the pseudoparenchymatous layer dries it shrinks and hardens, darkening to brown; the structure is maintained by the underlying stiff papery fibrous layer.

Unlike those of some other Geastrum species, the rays of G. quadrifidum are not

algae; the outer side is initially whitish, somewhat glossy, but in age becomes grayish-white and dull. The mycelial layer has a whitish inner side and is strongly attached to the litter on its outer side. It persists for a long time (1–2-year-old fruit bodies with intact mycelial cups have been found).[18]

The spore sac is variable in shape, ranging from roughly spherical to egg-shaped or irregular, but it is usually taller than it is wide. Its diameter ranges between 3.5 and 16 mm (1⁄8 and 5⁄8 in), although it is most commonly between 5 and 10 mm (3⁄16 and 3⁄8 in). An apophysis (a swelling on the underside of the spore sac) is often present. The stalk is visible when the pseudoparenchymatous layer has dried up, and is short but distinct, measuring 1–2.5 mm tall. The color is variable; in dry specimens it is whitish, light beige, beige gray, smoky gray or brownish-gray. The endoperidium in newly expanded fruit bodies is pruinose: covered with a light beige to whitish powder of hyphae and crystalline matter. This powder gradually disappears as the fruit body ages. Its color is highly variable, and both light and dark endoperidia are present. The peristome (a clearly demarcated region encircling the opening of the spore sac) is distinctly delimited, with a disc-like to more or less conical shape.[18] It is lighter in color than the spore sac, and up to 2 mm high.[19] In old specimens, the hyphae around the peristome sometimes stick together to develop radial grooves. The color is variable, but often of grayish or grayish-brown tints, often lighter than the endoperidium. The columella (sterile tissue, usually originating in the base of the gleba, extending into or through the gleba) is rather weak, more or less columnar to club-shaped, emerging from a more or less bulge-like continuation of the stalk and intruding to about the half or more into the mature gleba. The mature gleba is dark brown.[18] G. quadrifidum is inedible.[16]

Microscopic characteristics

The

μm (excluding the hyphal part). The hyphal part is less than 1–6 x 1–2 μm. The sterigmata (thin projections of the basidia that attach to the spore) are 4–6 μm long and mostly 1–1.5 μm thick. The hyphae located immediately underneath the basidia are thin-walled, 1–2 μm wide, provided with clamps and densely branched. The hyphae of the tramal plates are roughly parallel, thin-walled, 1–2 μm wide, and provided with clamps which may be dilated.[18]

Spores are roughly spherical and have ornamentations on the surface.

The spores in mass are dark brown when mature. They are spherical, covered with "warts" or

Scanning electron microscopy reveals the verrucae to be up to 0.8 μm long, conical to columnar processes with rounded to almost flattened tips. The apiculus (the part of a spore which attaches to the sterigmata at the end of a basidium) is distinct with radiating ridge-like processes. The young spore is first broadly egg-shaped before becoming roughly spherical in maturity.[18]

The

pseudoparenchymatous layer is built up by bladder-like, thin-walled hyphae of varying size. On the surface of newly expanded specimens crystals and thin-walled hyphae of the same kind as on the endoperidium are present.[18] The crystals are calcium oxalate dihydrate that have the crystalline structure of a pyramid, and are arranged singly or in loose aggregates, 11 to 30 μm in size.[20] The fibrous layer has thick-walled hyphae 1.5–4 μm wide. The mycelial layer in the inner, very thin part (seen as a glossy lining on the fibrous layer of newly expanded fruit bodies) consists of a dense web of thin-walled, 1.5–4 μm wide, clamped hyphae. Thick-walled hyphae are also present, measuring 2–11 (sometimes up to 19) μm wide. The outer part (the mycelial cup) consists of thick-walled, branched and densely interwoven hyphae (often with a narrow lumen) that measure 1.5–4 μm wide.[18]

Similar species

G. fornicatum (left) and G. pectinatum (right) are also fornicate earthstars.

Geastrum quadrifidum is readily confused with G. fornicatum, which is larger—up to 15 cm (6 in)—and has smaller spores (4–5 μm in diameter).[21] Geastrum minimum, although small like G. quadrifidum, is distinguished by having more rays (usually more than seven), and it is not fornicate.[22] Also, its mycelial layer is attached to the fibrous layer for a long time, without forming a mycelial cup like G. quadrifidum.[10] The Chilean species G. jurei does not have a clearly demarcated peristome.[23]

Geastrum quadrifidum is also similar to G. dissimile, G. leptospermum, and G. welwitschii in its fruit body morphology, especially the exoperidial rays, endoperidial body, and peristome. Geastrum dissimile differs from G. quadrifidum by its often sulcate or silky fimbriate, smooth peristome, and slightly smaller spores (4–5 μm in diameter).[24] Geastrum leptospermum can be distinguished from G. quadrifidum by its smaller spores (2–3 μm in diameter),[25] and by its preference for growing in mosses on tree trunks. G. welwitschii differs from G. quadrifidum by its epigeal mycelial cup with a felted or tufted outer surface, and indistinctly delimited peristome.[18]

Distribution, habitat and ecology

Although Geastrum quadrifidum has a wide distribution, it is not a common species. European countries from which the fungus has been reported include Belgium,[22][26] Denmark,[27] France,[28] Germany,[29] Montenegro,[30] Norway,[31] Poland,[32] and Sweden.[33] In Asia, it has been collected in China and Japan.[10] The North American distribution extends from Canada[13] south to Mexico,[34] and includes Hawaii.[35] It is also found in Australia[36] and New Zealand, South Africa, and South America.[37] Because of its rarity, it has been placed on the Regional Red Lists of several European countries, including Montenegro,[30] Denmark,[27] Norway,[38] and Poland.[32]

Like most earthstars, G. quadrifidum is a

pine-oak forest in the summer.[34] In Britain, all collections have been made in beech forest on calcareous soil.[26]

Notes

  1. ^ This name is not to be confused with Geastrum coronatum, a valid and distinct species that is independent of G. quadrifidum.[7]
  2. ^ Bates reports a slightly larger range—5.6 to 6.4 μm—with an average of 6.1 μm.[19]

References

  1. ^ Cunningham GH. (1926). "The Gasteromycetes of Australasia. IV. Species of the genus Geaster". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 51 (206, part 2): 72–93.
  2. ^ "Geastrum quadrifidum Pers. 1794". MycoBank. International Mycological Association. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  3. ^ Persoon CH. (1794). "Dispositio methodica fungorum" [Methodical arrangement of the fungi]. Neues Magazin für die Botanik, Römer (in Latin). 1: 86.
  4. ^ Persoon CH. (1801). Synopsis Methodica Fungorum [Methodical Synopsis of the Fungi]. Vol. 1. Göttingen. p. 133.
  5. ^ Scopoli JA. (1771). Flora carniolica [Carniolan flora] (in Latin). Vol. 2 (2 ed.). Vienna: Sumptibus J.T. Trattner. p. 490.
  6. ^ Schröter J. (1889). Kryptogamen-Flora von Schlesien [Cryptogamic flora of Silesia] (in German). Vol. 3–1(6). Breslau: J.U. Kern's Verlag. p. 702.
  7. ^ "Geastrum coronatum Pers. 1801". MycoBank. International Mycological Association. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  8. JSTOR 1220990
    .
  9. doi:10.15281/jplantres1887.50.216
    .
  10. ^
    S2CID 84085901
    .
  11. ^ Published in: Pilát A (1958). Gasteromycetes, Houby-Břichatky. Flora ČSR B1 [Gasteromycetes, Puffballs] (in Czech). Prague, Czechoslovakia: Nakladatelstvi Československé Akademie Vĕd.
  12. ^ Phillips R. "Geastrum quadrifidum". Rogers Mushrooms. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  13. ^
    ISBN 0-919433-47-2
    .
  14. ^ "Recommended English Names for Fungi in the UK" (PDF). British Mycological Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
  15. ^ Gray SF. (1821). A Natural Arrangement of British Plants. London: Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, Pasternoster-Row. p. 585.
  16. ^
    ISBN 978-1-56579-192-3
    .
  17. ^ Cunningham GH (1944). The Gasteromycetes of Australia and New Zealand. Dunedin: McIndoe. pp. 160–61.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sunhede, 1989, p. 338.
  19. ^ a b Bates ST. (2004). "Taxonomy" (PDF). Arizona Members of the Geastraceae and Lycoperdaceae (Basidiomycota, Fungi) (M.Sc. thesis). Arizona State University. pp. 119–22. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
  20. ISBN 0-8493-7673-4
    .
  21. ^ Sunhede, 1989, p. 209.
  22. ^
    JSTOR 3667475
    .
  23. JSTOR 3757933
    .
  24. doi:10.4102/abc.v4i3.1859
    .
  25. ISBN 0-486-23033-3
    .
  26. ^
    ISBN 0-947643-81-8
    .
  27. ^ a b "NERI – The Danish Red Data Book – Geastrum quadrifidum Pers.: Pers". Danmarks Miljøundersøgelser: National Environmental Research Institute, Denmark. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  28. ^ Anonymous. (2006). "Le dessus du panier n° 2" [Top of the basket 2]. Bulletin de la Société Linnéenne de Bordeaux (in French). 34 (4): 307–09.
  29. ISSN 0439-0687
    .
  30. ^ a b Peric B, Peric O (2005). The provisory red list of endangered macromycets of Montenegro (PDF) (Report). Eidg. Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft WSL (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research). Retrieved 20 June 2010.
  31. ISSN 0006-5269
    .
  32. ^
    ISSN 0001-625X
    .
  33. ^ Andersson U-B. (2010). "Jordstjärnor i Sverige 5. Fyrflikig jordstjärna, hög jordstjärna, hårig jordstjärna, sålljordstjärna" [Swedish earthstars (Geastraceae) 5]. Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift (in Swedish). 104 (1): 39–43.
  34. ^ a b Esqueda M, Herrera T, Perez-Siva E, Sanchez A (2003). "Distribution of Geastrum species from some priority regions for conservation of biodiversity of Sonora, Mexico". Mycotaxon. 87: 445–56.
  35. JSTOR 3792856
    .
  36. ISBN 978-0-643-06907-7
    .
  37. ^ Ponce de Leon P. (1968). "A revision of the family Geastraceae". Fieldiana Botany. 31: 303–52.
  38. ^ "Red List of threatened fungi in Norway". Norsk Rødliste 2006. The Herbarium, The Natural History Museums and Botanical Garden, University of Oslo. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  39. ISBN 0-916422-74-7
    .

Cited books

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Geastrum quadrifidum.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Geastrum_quadrifidum&oldid=1215807408"